Core Energy will deplete soon, please refuel

[Starseed]

The instruction on wow to refuel the meca has gone. I put three items inside the meca for its fuel. That has now run out but I dont see anywhere on how to make any more of those items to insert into the meca?

[Zigamus]

Type F to open the create (Replicator) menu, if you have materials that is where you make stuff. ALWAYS carry extra fuel and materials when travelling in space!, getting stuck out there is NO fun!

[Starseed]

Ive not got that far yet. Only just started on first planet. Its in the Mecha panel, How do I make whatever it is that goes into the fuel chamber? I cant see anything in the tech tree to unlock whatever it is and there is nothing in the replicator menu to make more. There were the initial 3 that came from somewhere and I didnt take a mental note of what they are. I assumed it would be obvious

[Dracuras]

plant matter, wood, coal, etc. anything considered burnable fuel can go in for starters

[Bluemoon_19]

Originally posted by Starseed:

Ive not got that far yet. Only just started on first planet. Its in the Mecha panel, How do I make whatever it is that goes into the fuel chamber? I cant see anything in the tech tree to unlock whatever it is and there is nothing in the replicator menu to make more. There were the initial 3 that came from somewhere and I didnt take a mental note of what they are. I assumed it would be obvious

you have to start by collecting trees, right click on them to harvest. Your next fuel will be coal so find a node and put down a miner.

[Nekogod]

They were hydrogen fuel rods, you get 3 for dismantling the rocket you landed in. The tutorial on fuelling the mech does mention using organic material for fuel. Initially that's wood and leaves, but as soon as you can get a miner pulling coal into a storage box to use for fuel, this will get you through until you can start turning coal into energetic graphite, then you can use that until you research the various fuel rods.

Wood -> Coal -> Energetic Graphite -> Hydrogen Fuel Rod -> Deuterium Fuel Rod -> Antimatter Fuel Rod

You can use a bunch of other random stuff like oil or organic crystals or fireice but there is no point, by the time you have these you'll have hydrogen and titanium to make the hydrogen fuel rods.

[Rekal]

Skip the trees, they're not nearly power dense enough to be worth the effort. There should be a coal vein near your start. Make a bee-line there and get your coal burner going! Don't worry about the planet, the Universe said she'll make more! ;)

[Starseed]

Wow thank you for all the replies to help. Yes it was the fuel rod initially and I assumed thats what would continue to be used. I managed to figure it out and am up to using coal while I go thru the tech tree to unlock things. One other question. I have unlocked the oil refinery buildings but cant place them? What am I missing with those? Im stuck because I need them down to mine a resource to be able to make the orange cubes to unlock things in the tech tree. Thank you!

[josmith7]

Originally posted by Starseed:

Wow thank you for all the replies to help. Yes it was the fuel rod initially and I assumed thats what would continue to be used. I managed to figure it out and am up to using coal while I go thru the tech tree to unlock things. One other question. I have unlocked the oil refinery buildings but cant place them? What am I missing with those? Im stuck because I need them down to mine a resource to be able to make the orange cubes to unlock things in the tech tree. Thank you!

The refineries or the extractors?

Refineries shouldn't have placement restrictions; they can go anywhere (or at least anywhere that any other building of that size could go)

Oil Extractors can only be placed atop crude oil seeps; and the approximate center of the extractor (the drill/pump pipe looking bit) needs to go directly over the little cone of the oil seep

[teron]

Originally posted by Rekal:

Skip the trees, they're not nearly power dense enough to be worth the effort. There should be a coal vein near your start. Make a bee-line there and get your coal burner going! Don't worry about the planet, the Universe said she'll make more! ;)

This, especially if you setup a small storage box with a limit to hold coal, and then later Energetic Graphite.

You also want to make sure you carry extra fuel, especially when you go into space. Even more so when you start using FTL which is a major energy draw.

For energy progression I would suggest the following which is a progression of power density for fuel:
-Coal which is 270MJ per stack with a 0 fuel chamber bonus
-Energetic Graphite which is 675MJ per stack with a 50% fuel chamber bonus
-Hydrogen fuel rod (could skip) which is 1.67 GJ per stack with a 200% fuel chamber bonus
-Deuteron fuel rod which is 18 GJ per stack with a 300% fuel chamber bonus
-Antimatterfuel rod which is 216 GJ per stack with a 500% fuel chamber bonus

Fuel chamber bonuses effect how quickly you can extract energy from the fuel, so for example you extract energy 50% faster from Energetic Graphite then Coal.

Note: for plant fuel, wood, diamonds, organic crystals, Carbon Nanotube and Graphene they are not power dense but they also have a malus for extracting energy.

You also want to make sure you do the energy circuit upgrades, since it increases how quickly Icarus can extract power from fuels. This increases the base generation which is further increased by the fuel generation bonuses of more advanced fuels. Which helps to offset the increased power costs that Icarus has when you add more construction drones, faster drones, faster walking speeds, flying, space and FTL.

Finally, it can be good to carry a few Wireless Power Towers. Since they allow Icarus to charge from the grid and you can be in range of multiple towers as well. Just keep in minds it can cause you to overdraw your grid if there is not enough available power.